The Minnesota Twins will play their first Spring Training game of the season on Saturday as they host the Tampa Bay Rays at Hammond Stadium. The game won't be televised, unfortunately, but it does represent a new beginning following last year's disastrous season.
Carl Pavano will start out on the mound for the first Spring Training game for the Twins, as is the plan for their first regular season game next month, but it'll be the lineup in the field that should get most of the notice. After battling numerous and wide-ranging injuries last season, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Denard Span are all expected to take the field on Saturday afternoon.
The rest of the lineup will consist of the following, according to the Twins website:
shortstop Jamey Carroll, right fielder Josh Willingham, third baseman Danny Valencia, left fielder Trevor Plouffe and second baseman Alexi Casilla.
Pavano is expected to pitch two innings. After that it might get interesting as Ron Gardenhire and the rest of the Twins staff try to decide who will take the spot that Joel Zumaya was projected to fill in the bullpen.
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